I’m still in moving hell for the next few days.
After two solid days of it, our old apartment seems like a clown car; no matter how many things we move out of it, there’s still more left to more. And don’t even get me started on the mess in the new place.
So please forgive me if it takes a few days to catch up and get back to normal. I’m just happy to have internet service again after going cold turkey for 36 hours. In the meantime, a few interesting tidbits have crossed my radar in my few free moments.
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A bike-riding right wing lawyer offers solid advice on how to talk about cycling to a conservative.
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The Times says doubts linger about the official explanation in the murder of Hollywood publicist Ronni Chasen; frankly, it seems like everyone other than the Beverly Hills Police doubt that a bike riding ex-con acting alone killed her in random robbery attempt. And check out this comment from BHPD spokesman Lt. Tony Lee —
Lee declined to comment on the specifics of the case, but said, “I can tell you from personal experience that using a bicycle as a mode of transportation is extremely prevalent with criminals. You can’t copy a license plate; they get in and out of traffic; hide into the shadows of the night, through alleyways; and can dump the bike and can jump into a bus. It occurs all the time.”
Maybe that’s why cops are so quick to cuff cyclists during traffic stops. If you assume — despite all evidence to the contrary — that the use of bikes in criminal activity is “extremely” widespread, it’s not a big jump to assume every cyclist is a potential criminal.
Never mind that far more criminals make their getaway by car — or on foot — than on two wheels.
Not that they’d profile cyclists or anything.
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Then there’s this great comment from Traffic-meister Tom Vanderbilt, in response to this article on the great bike lane debate in the New York Times —
770 pedestrians killed by cars between 2005 and 2009 (50% had the ‘walk’), and people are ‘afraid’ of bikes. WTF.http://nyti.ms/h322Cg
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Gary reminds us about the public workshop for the Santa Monica Bicycle Action Plan; 6:30 pm Monday at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Don’t count on seeing me there, though. My wife’s not letting me out of the house until we get all this crap put away.
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And finally, condolences to GT on the loss of a loyal four-footed friend.
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This seems like a good time to remind you that you can follow me on Twitter @bikinginla. And there’s still time to join Ross, Zeke and Damien in writing a guest post for BikingInLA while my attention is diverted elsewhere. So if you’ve got anything bike-related you want to get off your chest, just drop me a line at bikinginla at hotmail dot com.
